“So let go…it’s alright, ’cause there’s beauty in the breakdown.”

“All great changes are preceded by chaos.”

–Deepak Chopra

Do you feel like a storm is brewing? If so, get out the candles, stoke the fire, and prepare to wait it out.

The first rune of the second aett (or rune “family”) in the Elder Futhark is all about challenges that delay and disrupt your plans. In situations like these your choices are usually few, but clear. Do you face the storm with courage, then pick up the pieces and rebuild after it has passed? Or do you deny the storm is raging around you, then stare with disbelief at the damage it leaves behind? Worse, do you spend your valuable time and energy demanding the Universe “make things the way they were before,” instead of moving forward?

It’s hard watching something we’ve spent time and energy building come crashing down around us, especially when we feel powerless to stop its collapse. But nature’s cycle of birth, growth, and death is something neither we nor anything we create can escape. At best, some of the forms we create – friendships, intimate relationships, careers, beliefs about ourselves and others – eventually stop helping us grow. At worst, these can become stifling to the point of making us feel imprisoned. Whatever the case, old forms that no longer enliven and empower us have to be shed to make room for different opportunities that bring renewed freedom, inspiration, and joy. By holding on to the old instead of embracing the new, we rot ourselves from the inside out and become what compassionate spiritual warrior and well-known medium Faye The Tattooed Psychic calls “the walking dead.”

If you’re not ready to face the challenges in your life, ask yourself why. If you’re ready for the peace that comes from accepting things as they are and would like help mustering the courage to move on, try these affirmations by Orin and Sanaya Roman, from the book Living with Joy:

I peacefully and lovingly release situations and relationships that are not for my higher good.

I view every situation as an opportunity to grow stronger and more joyful.

About these affirmations: if the words presented above don’t ring true for you, change them! The words don’t do the work on their own…it’s words + repetition + intent and emotional connection that make affirmations such powerful catalysts for positive change. Feel free to create ones that feel good and reflect who you are.